Chinese medics boost capacity of South Sudanese peers to treat heart ailments

JUBA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Sixty South Sudanese students at the Juba Teaching Hospital College of Nursing and Midwifery are receiving specialized training by members of the ninth batch of the Chinese medical team dispatched to the world's youngest nation.

With the training, which will end Friday, the students of nursing and midwifery are adequately prepared to treat heart-related complications after acquiring skills and expertise from Chinese medics.

Hakim Martin, a 25-year-old student of midwifery, says that he is grateful to have acquired the skills.

"I have practiced medicine before, especially in treating heart diseases but not really the same way it has been taught here by the Chinese doctors, this is practical and it is a life skill that is new to me," Martin told Xinhua in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

Augostino John, a 30-year-old student of midwifery, said previously he had only treated infants with breathing problems but not adults.

"This session was really very important and it is educational and also I picked something very important, the only knowledge I have is in helping resuscitate newborn infants but cardiopulmonary resuscitation for adults I have never done," said John. "I have picked something and if I am placed somewhere where there is such a condition I will be able to help someone."

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person hit by cardiac arrest.

Martha Akol, a 24-year-old female student of midwifery, said she will utilize her newly acquired skills to help both young and older South Sudanese with breathing problems.

"We were only taught about neonatal resuscitation, what I have learnt for the first time is cardiopulmonary resuscitation for adults which of course we have been taught to do 30 compressions and give two breaths using a bag mask," said Akol.

Tindilo Grace, the principal of Kajo Keji Health Science Institute, whose students are now studying at the Juba College of Nursing and Midwifery due to insecurity in Kajo Keji near the Ugandan border, said the skills taught to her students will help them provide first aid to heart attack patients.

"I am very grateful for their (Chinese) demonstration because these are life-saving skills which the students must know before they go to the field, in case they get such a case either by the roadside or within the hospital somebody collapses they will have the potential of waking that patient up," said Grace.

She noted that students were keen to continue inviting members of the ninth batch of the Chinese medical team to share skills and expertise in treating heart diseases.

"We shall always be inviting them to come and share with us their knowledge, remember these countries (China) are already developed and we are yet developing, so we would want to share from the brain of the developed countries to help our children and also to develop their capacities," said Grace.

Zhang Baohui, a pediatrician with the Chinese medical team, said the skills he and his colleagues demonstrated to the students will help resuscitate people suffering from stroke and heart attack in South Sudan.

"There are many cases of people with cardiac arrests, stroke especially due to heatwaves if there are people with these skills it is very important to save lives," said Zhang. "South Sudan needs people with this kind of knowledge and skills to treat heart conditions."